Singular they

Singular they is the use in English of the pronoun they or its inflected or derivative forms, them, their, theirs, and themselves (or themself), as an epicene (gender-neutral) singular pronoun. It typically occurs with an unspecified antecedent, as in sentences such as: The singular they had emerged by the 14th century, about a century after plural they. It has been commonly employed in everyday English ever since then, and has gained currency in official contexts, though it has been strongly criticized at least since the late-19th century. Its use in modern standard English has become more common and accepted with the trend toward gender-neutral language, though most style guides continue to proscribe it, considering it colloquial and less appropriate in formal writing. Some recent references, however, sanction this usage as appropriate not only in conversational registers of standard English, but also in official or literary usage. In the early 21st century, use of singular they with known individuals has been promoted for those who do not identify as male or female. The 'singular they' permits a singular antecedent, used with the same (plural) verb forms as plural they, and has the same inflected forms as plural they (i.e. them, their, and theirs), except that in the reflexive form, 'themself' is sometimes used instead of 'themselves'. Themself is attested from the 14th to 16th centuries. Its use has been increasing since the 1970s or 1980s, though it is sometimes still classified as 'a minority form'. In 2002, Payne and Huddleston, in The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, called its use in standard dialect 'rare and acceptable only to a minority of speakers' but 'likely to increase with the growing acceptance of they as a singular pronoun'. It is useful when referring to a single person of indeterminate gender, where the plural form themselves might seem incongruous, as in: The Canadian government recommends themselves as the reflexive form of singular they for use in Canadian federal legislative texts and advises against using themself, but themself is also found: They with a singular antecedent goes back to the Middle English of the 14th century (slightly younger than they with a plural antecedent, which was borrowed from Old Norse in the 13th century), and has remained in common use for centuries in spite of its proscription by traditional grammarians beginning in the late 18th century. Informal spoken English exhibits nearly universal use of the singular they. An examination by Jürgen Gerner of the British National Corpus published in 1998 found that British speakers regardless of social status, age, sex, or region used the singular they overwhelmingly more often than the gender-neutral he or other options.